Daily Dothttp://www.dailydot.com/Daily Dot Articleen-usThu, 22 Mar 2012 14:25:09 +0000Wikipedia struggles to close the gender gaphttp://www.dailydot.com/society/wikipedia-gender-gap-discussion/<p><img src='//cdn0.dailydot.com/cache/24/70/2470a8eeb7ba95dbe29742dc4e658a87.jpg'></p><p>
Anyone with Web access can edit Wikipedia. However, only a small percentage of women take advantage of that privilege.</p>
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A look at the encyclopedia&rsquo;s <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Editor_Survey_Report_-_April_2011.pdf&amp;page=3">demographics</a> shows that 91 percent of its active editors are men, meaning just nine percent are women.</p>
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In commemoration of Women&rsquo;s History Month, a group of Wikipedia editors&mdash;both male and female&mdash;had a frank, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-03-12/Women_and_Wikipedia">round-table discussion</a> about how to make steps toward closing that gender gap. The chat was organized and written up by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SarahStierch">Sarah Stierch</a>, a Wikimedia Community Fellow who aims to bring more women and women&rsquo;s content to Wikipedia.</p>
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To the group, it was obvious that a mostly male editing team will make Wikipedia content biased. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kippelboy">Kippelboy</a>, a Wikipedia editor from Barcelona, said an equally gendered staff would better adhere to the site&rsquo;s fundamental principles.</p>
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&ldquo;One of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars">five pillars</a> of Wikipedia says &quot;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Neutral_point_of_view">Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view</a>,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If we strive for articles that document and explain the major points of view in a balanced and impartial manner, we need women to be represented in this project.</p>
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The editors already noticed extreme examples of bias on English Wikipedia. Valerie Aurora, cofounder of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ada_Initiative">Ada Initiative</a>, said it was &ldquo;absurd&rdquo; that Wikipedia&rsquo;s male editing team ranks pornstars as more notable than accomplished female scientists.</p>
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&ldquo;Right now on English Wikipedia, about 90 percent of the people writing and voting on articles are men,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;This is how you end up with the absurdity of arguing whether a woman scientist is notable enough to deserve a Wikipedia article at the same time that women starring in pornography [who win a pornographic award] are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:PORNSTAR">automatically considered notable</a>.&rdquo;</p>
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Notably absent from the chat was any discussion of why the editors think more women don&rsquo;t currently edit Wikipedia. Not one of the participants suggested a theory.</p>
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According to <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Editor_Survey_Report_-_April_2011.pdf&amp;page=4">Wikipedia&rsquo;s latest editor demographics</a>, &ldquo;very few editors feel like they&rsquo;ve been harassed, and very few feel Wikipedia is a sexualized environment.&rdquo; That might be hard to believe for those who haven&rsquo;t forgotten about Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales&rsquo; sexual escapades, in which he&rsquo;s been accused of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/mar/27/wikipedia.scandal">trading sex for edits</a>.</p>
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&ldquo;[A]n edits-for-sex accusation-cloud is going to follow Jimmy Wales around forever,&rdquo; blogged Guardian reporter <a href="http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/archives/001319.html">Seth Finkelstein</a>.</p>
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If Wikipedia is really going to close the gender gap, the editors are going to need more balanced and impartial reporting on the issues at hand.</p>
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<em>Photo by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:We_Can_Edit.jpg">Wikipedia</a></em></p>
lauren.rae.orsini@gmail.com (Lauren Rae Orsini)Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:25:09 +0000http://www.dailydot.com/society/wikipedia-gender-gap-discussion/Society